Search

The Allen-Cahn equation is a well-known stiff semilinear parabolic equation used to describe the process of phase separation and transition in phase field modeling of multi-component physical systems, while the conservative Allen-Cahn equation is a modified version of the classic Allen-Cahn equation that can additionally conserve the mass. As neural networks and deep learning techniques have achieved significant successes in recent years in scientific and engineering applications, there has been growing interest in developing deep learning algorithms for numerical solutions of partial differential equations. In this paper, we propose a novel deep learning method for predicting the dynamics of the classic and conservative Allen-Cahn equations. Specifically, we design two special convolutional neural network models, one for each of the two equations, to learn the fully-discrete operators between two adjacent time steps. The loss functions of the two models are defined using the residual of the fully-discrete systems, which result from applying the central finite difference discretization in space and the Crank–Nicolson approximation in time. This approach enables us to train the models without requiring any ground-truth data. Moreover, we introduce an effective training strategy that automatically generates useful samples along the time evolution to facilitate training of the models. Finally, we conduct extensive experiments in two and three dimensions to demonstrate outstanding performance of our proposed method, including its dynamics prediction and generalization ability under different scenarios. • We propose two novel convolutional neural networks to learn the fully-discrete operators of the classic and conservative Allen-Chan equations. • The loss functions are defined using the residual of the fully-discrete systems, which enables us to train the models without ground-truth data. • We introduce a novel training strategy that automatically generates samples along the time to facilitate effective training of the two models. • Extensive experiments demonstrate outstanding performance of the proposed models for dynamics prediction under different scenarios. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A large class of semilinear parabolic equations satisfy the maximum bound principle (MBP) in the sense that the time-dependent solution preserves for any time a uniform pointwise bound imposed by its initial and boundary conditions. The MBP plays a crucial role in understanding the physical meaning and the wellposedness of the mathematical model. Investigation on numerical algorithms with preservation of the MBP has attracted increasingly attentions in recent years, especially for the temporal discretizations, since the violation of MBP may lead to nonphysical solutions or even blow-ups of the algorithms. In this paper, we study high-order MBP-preserving time integration schemes by means of the integrating factor Runge–Kutta (IFRK) method. Beginning with the space-discrete system of semilinear parabolic equations, we present the IFRK method in general form and derive the sufficient conditions for the method to preserve the MBP. In particular, we show that the classic four-stage, fourth-order IFRK scheme is MBP preserving for some typical semilinear systems although not strong stability preserving, which can be instantly applied to the Allen–Cahn type of equations. To our best knowledge, this is the first time to present a fourth-order linear numerical method preserving the MBP. In addition, convergence of these numerical schemes is proved theoretically and verified numerically, as well as their efficiency by simulations of 2D and 3D long-time evolutional behaviors. Numerical experiments are also carried out for a model which is not a typical gradient flow as the Allen–Cahn type of equations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]